With very limited funds to go around, councilman says bond issue would be needed to repair a large number of streets at one time

Irma Rogers is still waiting for Shreveport to fix the six-inch drop-off on David Raines Road.

She addressed the Shreveport City Council in February about the much-needed street and drainage improvements in her Martin Luther King Jr. neighborhood. Rogers asked the City Council to consider adding streets in the community — David Raines, Russell Road and Audrey Lane — to the city's list of asphalt overlay projects. She also had a slide show of deteriorating streets.

During a meeting Feb. 25, Rogers told council members her neighborhood was asking for its fair share of funding to repair and improve its streets.

Money is the determining factor for how many and which streets the city can repair, District D Councilman Michael Corbin said. "If we just truly want to fix a large number of streets at one time, the only way in the near future to do that is a bond issue.

"And I'm not sure citizens citywide support that." A bond issue would be tied to property taxes, which citizens may not favor, Corbin said.

Rogers, president of Martin Luther King Community Development Corp., recognizes that some projects are taking place in her community but said the neighborhood's major infrastructure needs are not being addressed.

"Most of the major streets we were asking for repair, they have not come to any sort of resolution," Rogers said Thursday. "I'm a little frustrated with their, I guess you can say, lack of action. There should be action."

Dale Sibley, the city's chief administrative officer, said it's up to the City Council to decide which Shreveport streets are fixed.

Funding for street improvements comes from bond money and the city's streets special revenue fund, which is money Shreveport gets from Southwestern Electric Power Co. franchise fees.

Phase I of the city's minor arterial asphalt surfaced roadway program is nearing completion. And the City Council recently accepted introduction of legislation authorizing Phase II of program, which includes portions of Linwood Avenue, and Stoner Avenue from Creswell to Louisiana avenues.

Rogers thinks the MLK area has been lacking in infrastructure improvements since it was annexed into the city in the 1970s. "Somebody's been paying taxes, but our streets are not being fixed," she said, according to the minutes of the City Council meeting Feb. 25.

The $21 million in bond money finances 35 citywide street improvement projects. Council members divided the money seven ways to give each district $3 million for road improvements.

"The difference with the bond money is some council members chose to use their entire amount on one project," Corbin said. "If you take that strategy of I'm going to fix one street, the other people in your neighborhoods are going to say, 'How come nothing's getting done?'"

District C Councilman Oliver Jenkins said streets in his district were selected based on need.

Corbin said that a combination of neighborhood streets and high-traffic volume roads were selected for repairs in his area and that the bond money was used for concrete roads. A major issue is finding money to fix asphalt roads that have to be completely rebuilt, which can get expensive, he said.

The bond money financed low- and high-traffic volume streets. The projects included $60,000 in street improvements to the 200 block of Holcomb in District G and approximately $332,000 in repairs to Lewis Place and Carver Place — two streets that form a half circle near Booker T. Washington High School in District A. Councilwoman Rose Wilson-McCulloch used her entire allocation on the two streets.

Other projects include two commercialized stretches of Jewella Avenue in Districts G (Sam Jenkins') and F (Joe Shyne's) and an estimated $1.5 million project to fix a portion of Akard Street from Greenway to Southfield roads in council District C (Oliver Jenkins').

The money presented an opportunity to improve Akard Street, which was damaged by a transit bus, Oliver Jenkins said. The councilman also gave a list of streets to a group of motorcyclists who are sensitive to road conditions and asked that they go through his district to see which need the most work.

Lonnie R. McCray, president of Neighbors Involved in Caddo Heights, said there are many streets in his District B neighborhood that need repaired or widened. He noted that the city is repairing the 1700 block of Oakdale Street.

One of the more polarizing road projects involves repairs to Hersey D. Wilson Drive from Legardy to Hill streets — a $2.5 million project under construction in District A's MLK neighborhood. The street is named after Wilson-McCulloch's late father, a former Caddo commissioner and band director who lived there.

A goal after getting elected, Wilson-McCulloch said she wanted the warped and broken street redone not only to honor her father, but because it is a transit route.

She also said she has taken heat over the project. "It's been very political due to the fact that it's my daddy. I have no regrets whatssoever."